Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (1746–1825): Three-Time Presidential Candidate of the United States

Abstract

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney is one of the forgotten “founding fathers” of the United States. His diverse military, political and diplomatic activities have been poorly studied in American historiography and have received little attention on the part of Russian Americanists. The study of his biography is particularly relevant in the light of current trends in American society, where the activities of the “founding fathers” are viewed narrowly, solely through the prism of slavery and racism. Hence the aim of this article is to use the biography of a Southerner from the revolutionary era to illustrate how the defence of slavery could be combined with the values of classical republicanism and the principles of the Enlightenment in the worldview of the "founding fathers". The source base of the study is largely founded on the electronic archive of the Pinckney family, published by the University of Virginia. Publications of the debates of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and materials of the ratification campaign, as well as South Carolina periodicals were also used. From available sources, the author concludes that Pinckney followed the ethical models of classical republicanism. In politics, Pinckney aimed at a republic ruled by virtue and talent. However, like an ancient polis, Pinckney’s ideal state was a state of a free minority. From his point of view, freedom and equality had nothing to do with slaves. Nevertheless, he remained in history as one of the authors of the US Constitution, and as a diplomat who refused to submit to extortion by the French Directory. He ran for president of the United States three times and, although he lost each time, he emerged from the ordeal with an unblemished reputation, which was rare in a fiercely partisan struggle.